Seeking to head off Republicans, Democratic leaders on Wednesday pushed through a resolution requiring the House ethics committee to disclose what actions it has taken in responding to the controversy over the PMA Group, a once prominent lobbying firm now at the center of a Justice Department criminal probe.

The largely partisan vote was 270-134, with 17 members, including members of the ethics committee, voting “present.”

Led by Rep. Jeff Flake (Ariz.), have been calling for a PMA investigation by the ethics committee for months, but Democrats have resisted, arguing that it is not necessary and just an attempt by the GOP to cause political problems for the majority.

Most Democrats have held firm in voting against resolutions calling for investigations, although some junior members have joined with Republicans on the measure.

GOP leaders strongly objected to the Democratic leadership’s resolution, branding it a “stunt’ and a “worthless piece of paper,” and noting that the measure doesn’t require any action by the ethics panel other than to publicly declare whether it has taken any action on the PMA controversy.

“This is a joke. It is the tiniest speck of political cover from a Democratic Leadership that has voted time after time to block a real investigation of PMA,” said Michael Steel, spokesman for Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio). “It doesn’t even require an investigation, it simply inquires whether there is one – and gives the Committee a month and half to reply. That’s ridiculous. They can and should answer that question today. In the meantime, the swamp waters continue to rise, and this won’t fool the American people.”

But the DOJ criminal probe has moved to Capitol Hill as Rep. Peter Visclosky (D-Ind.), a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, and his departing chief of staff have been subpoenaed for documents as part of the PMA investigation. Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) also has ties to the now defunct lobbying firm.
With that in mind, Democratic leaders are drafting their own PMA resolution, one they say will be more targeted than the Flake proposal. They want the ethics committee to publicly declare whether it has initiated a PMA-related probe. The panel has made no comment on the issue yet, despite eight House votes so far on Flake’s resolutions.

According to the Democratic resolution, the ethics committee would have 45 days to report back to the body on what actions it “has taken, if any, concerning any misconduct of members and employees of the House in connection with such activities of the PMA Group.”

“It will basically ask the ethics committee to tell us what they are doing on this issue,” said a senior Democratic aide.

One report said Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) is the author of the Democratic resolution, but Democratic insiders said another party leader is drafting the measure.

Hoyer, though, has argued during Democratic leadership meetings that the majority has to make some response to the PMA controversy other than asking Democrats to vote against the Flake resolutions.

The PMA scandal is a growing problem for Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other senior appropriators, including Visclosky and Murtha, a close Pelosi friend and ally. Both lawmakers accepted hundreds of thousands in campaign contributions from the firm, its employees and clients, and then pushed spending earmarks worth tens of millions of dollars from these clients. Murtha and Visclosky have denied any link between the donations and the earmarks, but the issue has become a political albatross for Democratic leaders.